Qatar Airways’ luxurious new ‘Qsuite’ seats now flying from the USA

Qatar Airways showed off its new “Qsuites” cabin in New York last week, giving an up-close glimpse of its newest and swankiest business-class suite yet.

The new suite seats are the latest offering in a constant game of one-upmanship among the world’s premier airlines. Emirates, Singapore Airlines and even U.S. carrier Delta have all rolled out new premium cabins since 2017 that feature suites-style seats.

“Our goal is obviously to be one step ahead of the curve,” Günter Saurwein, Qatar Airways’ Vice President – The Americas, said from onboard one of the carrier’s Boeing 777s Thursday (Jan. 18) amid a media tour of the aircraft and its Qsuites.

He acknowledged the competitive landscape in which rivals are continually rolling out newer, even-swankier premium seats.

“Competition is healthy in general because that keeps us running fast,” Saurwein said of Qatar Airways’ new Qsuite design, which the company has patented. “With this product, we’ve raised the bar for everybody.”

Qatar Airways’ newest seats will be installed on its Boeing 777 and Airbus A350 jets that fly the bulk of the carrier’s longest routes. More than a half-dozen planes have the Qsuites now, and the carrier expects them to roll out to all of the A350s and 777s in its fleet within two years. New aircraft will arrive with the new suites while existing aircraft will be retrofitted.

The Qsuites feature seats that convert to lie-flat beds and can be closed off from the aisle by sliding privacy doors.For couples traveling together, two sets of Qsuites can be combined into a single pod by lowering the privacy divider. The beds in those pods convert into a double bed, which Qatar Airways is touting as the first-ever offering of its kind in business class. (Other airlines have offered something similar, but in “first class.”)

For couples traveling together, two sets of Qsuites can be combined into a single pod by lowering the privacy divider. The beds in those pods convert into a double bed, which Qatar Airways is touting as the first-ever offering of its kind in business class. (Other airlines have offered something similar, but in “first class.”)

In another unique offering, Qatar Airways’ Qsuites cabin features a “quad” option that allows four suites to be combined into a shared space for up four people traveling together. That can done by lowering the walls between two forward-facing and two rear-facing seat pairs that are anchored to a center console area. When the walls are lowered, a desk-like space anchors the central area between the four seats. If four people are not traveling together the quad arrangement also can accommodate either two or three people flying together.